The hotly-anticipated rematch between GLORY Heavyweight Champion Rico Verhoeven and challenger Jamal Ben Saddik heated up yesterday when both men stared down at the official GLORY: Redemption press conference event in the Netherlands. The two men squared off for the press when Ben Saddik spat on Verhoeven, causing a near-brawl that officials had to diffuse.

Verhoeven remained calm. Verhoeven posted via Instagram after the event that Ben Saddik had “cracked” under the pressure.

GLORY decided to take action against Ben Saddik, with GLORY’s Vice-Chairman Scott Rudmann announcing via Twitter this afternoon that Jamal Ben Saddik has been fined for his unsportsmanlike conduct during the press event. This marks Ben Saddik’s second reprimand under his GLORY tenure, the first being when he kicked a downed Hesdy Gerges in a GLORY-affiliated fight in 2014, which led to his suspension for over a year by the promotion.

Jamal ben Saddick has been fined by @GLORY_WS for unsportsmanlike conduct (spitting) at yesterday’s presser. This is unacceptable conduct, & will not be tolerated from any GLORY athlete.

We look forward to Rico vs Jamal battling it out in the ring on 9 Dec at GLORY REDEMPTION

This isn’t to say that Ben Saddik isn’t sympathetic, as the big man has had his bouts with cancer previously and has always come across as a nice guy to fans and the media. When it comes time to fight he seems to get caught up. His win over Verhoeven was in 2011 via TKO and needless to say, they are both very different fighters now and will be when they meet on December 9th.